Many vehicles, particularly pickup trucks and vans, are operated in recreational activities, such as hunting, fishing, camping, and exploring, in areas that are uncleared or partially cleared of vegetation that is sufficiently hard or sharp to scratch and mar the high gloss finish on such vehicles and make their appearance undesirable for daily use. In pursuit of these recreational activities, these vehicles frequently push through areas having no roads and having dense growths of bushes and small trees. The high gloss enamel finish on most vehicles would be essentially destroyed by the scraping and scratching of the bushes and trees encountered in the first trail breaking endeavor. Accordingly, there is a great need for a cover which can protect against such destructive scraping and scratching.
One effort to solve this problem is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,999 to Miller. This patent discloses a pickup truck with sheets of plastic material attached in several sections to the outside of the truck to cover all finished areas. The covers of this patent are attached to the vehicle mainly by snap fasteners and hooks. This requires a permanent disfigurement of the finish of the vehicle by the insertion of the stud portion of the snap fastener at a multitude of locations on the hood and body of the truck. Not only are such studs unsightly but they are dangerous in that they may catch the clothing of a person near the truck and cause damage to the clothing or injury to the person. Plastic hooks employed in this patented invention do not provide any flexibility or adjustment for attachment to panels and body portions that may be slightly larger or smaller than the standard design sizes. If the panel is slightly larger than expected, the cover cannot be attached at all, and if the panel is slightly smaller than expected the cover will be so loosely attached that it may be easily torn off by the vegetation, leaving no protection for the finish of that panel. Furthermore, this system of covers employs bands across the hood to help hold the front fender covers in place, and this prevents ready access to the engine because the bands prevent the hood from being opened. It is clearly important to provide an improved cover system for such vehicles.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved system of covers for the finished areas of vehicles operating off the road. It is another object of this invention to provide an improved fastening means for removeably attaching covers to off-the-road vehicles. It is still another object of this invention to provide a cover system that does not interfere with opening of the hood or the doors or any other normal function of the vehicle. Other objects will become apparent from the more detailed description of this invention which follows.